A Systematic Review of Inflammatory Cytokine Changes Following Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Animal Models and Humans

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a severe form of stroke that occurs following rupture of a cerebral aneurysm. Acute inflammation and secondary delayed inflammatory responses, both largely controlled by cytokines, work together to create high mortality and morbidity for this group. The trajectory and time course of cytokine change must be better understood in order to effectively manage unregulated inflammation and improve patient outcomes following aSAH. A systematic review was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Three different search phrases (“cytokines and subarachnoid hemorrhage,” “cytokine levels and subarachnoid hemorrhage,” and “cytokine measurement and subarachnoid hemorrhage”) were applied across three databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, and the Cochrane Library). Our procedures returned 856 papers. After application of inclusion/exclusion criteria, 95 preclinical animal studies and 41 clinical studies remained. Across studies, 22 different cytokines had been investigated, 5 different tissue types were analyzed, and 3 animal models were utilized. Three main pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) demonstrated reliable increases following aSAH across the included studies. While this is a promising area of research for potential therapeutics, there are gaps in the knowledge base that bar progress for clinical translation of this information. In particular, there is a need for investigations that explore the systemic inflammatory response following injury in a more diverse number of cytokines, the balance of specific pro-/anti- inflammatory cytokines, and how these biomarkers relate to patient outcomes and recovery over time.